rated: 10 Murder on Astor Place Victoria Thompson The Gaslight series is set in NYC around the turn of the century. Engrossing mysteriesmixed with amazing history. The lead character is a woman born into luxury and now,against all odds is practicing

rated: 10 The power of the dog Thomas Savage First published in the '60s I found this one by chance. Truly one of my all time favorites.Its set in the West around 1930. Again amazing relationships of mothers and their sonstopped with one of the

rated: 10 Empire Falls Richard Russo This one is about the complications of family and the difficulty of growing up. Again, its set in a diner ( i must have a thing for diners). And again the ending will be unexpected. Winner of the

rated: 10 Skinny Dip Carl Hiaasen Carl's written a bunch of books and I love them all. Set in Florida these kind of whacky mysteries are mixed with the oddest of people you'd ever come across in a bar on the beach that's playing

rated: 10 Water for Elephants Sara Gruen I know there's been lots of movie hype but its for a reason. This book about an 'almost veterinarian' traveling with a circus in the mid nineteenth century is astounding. The end made me cheer and

rated: 10 What I Did for Love Susan Elizabeth Phillips Ok, total guilty pleasure. Susan's reads are full of fun. Despite the title its cool for mom. Lots of Hollywood and relationships and happy endings.

rated: 10 Life of Pi Yann Martel I was enraptured by this book. It's kind of odd and twisty turny. And I seriously thought it was true that this tiger was in a boat with this guy. The way its written is so beautiful. And I'm so

rated: 10 Born Under a Lucky Moon Dana Precious You'll laugh. You'll cheer. You'll cry. You'll wonder why the main character, Jeannie, is such a damn doofus she can't figure out that family is the most important thing in the world. Mostly set in

Information and media on this page and throughout Ranker is supplied by Wikipedia, Ranker users, and other sources. Freebase content is freely licensed under the CC-BY license and Wikipedia content is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation license.